An insight to the energy policy of GCC countries to meet renewable energy targets of 2030

The paper reviews the current and future state of renewable energy (RE) utilization in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries and explores each country's potential in harnessing RE. It highlights on the social, political, and economic factors that drive these countries towards RE adoption. The paper shows that while some countries in the GCC are striding ahead in RE installations, others are lagging as their current RE capacities are not at par with the global capacities. The paper lays out the RE goals of each GCC country and explores the scope, methods, and feasibility of generating energy from solar and wind resources. The paper also shows how GCC countries can achieve their 2030 RE goals by proactively utilizing their abundant RE reserves. Furthermore, it attempts to draw a comparison on each GCC country's currently installed RE capacity, the capacity based on RE project pipelines, and the capacity estimates of each country in 2030 based on International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) projections. The paper provides a broad view on the possibilities, factorable stances, and projections for RE adoption to benefit policymakers. •The current and future state of renewable energy utilization in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries.•Policy enhancements for GCC nations to accelerate adoption of renewable energy.•The renewable energy technologies that are ideal for the GCC countries.•Correlation between current, upcoming and 2030 renewable energy targets of GCC.